Long Road Back to Eden
by the.lost.raconteur
Summary: As Lily Evans starts her seventh year at Hogwarts she can't help but feel like things aren't going quite like they're meant to as she navigates between head girl duties, the marauders and a strange new Gryffindor named Harry.
1. Chapter 1

Long Road Back to Eden

Lily Evans was looking forward to her final year at Hogwarts. She thought about the secret pathways, the ever changing staircases and the night sky shining down in the magically enchanted great hall. After a summer away she was never so sure that she would always call that castle home.

Sighing she checked her watch. The Hogwarts express was still five hours away from the castle so she forced herself to snap back to reality and pay some attention to the others in the compartment. Marlene McKinnon and Mary MacDonald sat across from her discussing Quidditch of all things. As far as Lily knew they were only interested in Quidditch players, so them discussing plays of a Quidditch match seemed a little out of character.

Interrupting their stream of animated conversation Lily asked what a Wronski Feint was, trying to make sense of the conversation.

"Oh, Lily, don't you know anything" Marlene replied energetically with her black curls bouncing in excitement "it's only the specialty move of the best chaser in the world –Lennox Campbell. He was a few years above us in Gryffindor remember and just got signed to England, not soon enough either because they still lost the cup even with Lennox catching the snitch."

Lily was mistaken, it was about Quiddich players and not actual Quiddich. Internally she let out a silent nostalgic giggle. Some things never changed and no matter how old her two friends got they were still the silly little eleven year olds who started Hogwarts with her six years ago.

Marlene with her innate friendliness was quick to befriend the whole Gryffindor dormitory in first year. To Lily, a shy first year which still couldn't stop her eyes from widening every time she saw an unexplainable act of magic, Marlene was a comfort as she talked to Lily on her first day with such familiarity that Lily felt she had in fact known Marlene for years. Mary on the other hand spoke quietly with a soft Scottish accent that she went unnoticed by Lily for weeks among all the new things that Hogwarts offered. It wasn't until she was paired with Mary on the Devil's Snare project in Herbology that they became friends.

Mary's sandy blond fringe was almost long enough to cover up her wide blue eyes so every few minutes her hand would swipe across her forehead absentmindedly while she was telling Mary about the Quiddich game she had seen in Edinburgh over the summer holidays with her dad. With Marlene holding her weight as the active listener of the conversation, nodding enthusiastically in all the right places Lily decided now would be a good time to check the rest of the train as part of her new head girl duties.

On boarding the train earlier that day Lily had been excited about starting her new duty and eagerly made her way to the first compartment to greet all the new prefects and lead the first meeting of the year. Her eagerness quickly faded however upon finding out just who the head boy was. James 'rules are made to be broken' Potter sat looking arrogantly proud of himself in the prefect's carriage with his chest almost comically forward displaying a shiny gold head boy badge. Or at least that's how it looked to Lily in her disbelief of James Potters' latest success.

"Is this a prank?" Lily demanded scowling in James' direction.

"Lily!" James sound excited to see her despite her tone. He bounded forward and moved his arms up before thinking better of it and dropping them back down. "How was your summer? Did you see the world cup? That Campbell guy's a real talented seeker, eh?" James proceeded animatedly, seemingly ignoring her previous comment.

That was something that Lily thought of as James Potter's biggest talent, ignoring things he didn't want to hear and Lily's indignation towards him was something he most certainly did not want to hear. Lily took a deep breath resigning herself to this new and unwanted situation before deflecting James' questions with vague answers and reminding herself it could be worse, it could of been Black after all.

With a quiet "OK, let's get on with" it from Lily the two had navigated their way through the first meeting with James oddly muted and Lily methodically going through each point the prefects needed to know. After the meeting she had quickly made her way towards Mary and Marlene's carriage and steadily ignored the fact that she would have to work closely with Potter throughout the year.

Closing the compartment door on her way out to check the train Lily decided that she could still mostly ignore Potter, after all the fact that they had to co-ordinate the prefects didn't mean they had to be friends. Smiling at her decision Lily started to walk down the train's corridor while peeking through the compartment windows and checking that the students inside were behaving.

It wasn't long before Lily found a first year that had made himself sick on cockroach clusters. Green in the face the little guy explained that his mum never let him have sweets and that he had only had a few. Judging by the wrappers surrounding him however Lily suspected he had more than just a few. However, with a quick stomach easing charm the crisis was averted and Lily was able to move on.

It wasn't until nearly the end of the train that Lily found a real crisis which demanded the head girl's attention. There was an angry looking boy who looked strangely like James Potter with his wand out pointed towards Evan Rosier who was looking a bit more confused than his usual angry. Still he also had his wand out ready for a duel if the other boy started firing off curses.

"I know who you are" the other boy almost hissed in Rosier's direction while glaring at him with hatred burning in his oddly green eyes.

"What is going on here" Lily demanded using her best impression of the stern looking Professor McGonagall.

The effect was almost instantaneous as both boys swerved around to identify the owner of the voice. Both looked a little cowed as though they expected a teacher to be on the other side of it. Rosier narrowed his eyes at her while the unfamiliar boy looked shocked to see her. His eyes widened and he very quickly dropped his wand while his face morphed through a range of expressions which Lily had trouble recognizing but jumped at the opportunity to dispel the situation while both boys were shocked out of their anger.

Before they could mutter out their excuses however the very person Lily had planned on ignoring for the rest of the year had appeared. James Potter with Sirius Black looking gleefully around for trouble at his side had appeared. Unexpectedly however, James Potter didn't say anything that would rile the two boys up even more. In a stern, almost mature sounding voice he followed Lily's question by asking if there was a problem.

Rosier was quick to throw any blame away from himself, while the Potter look-a-like looked even more shocked upon seeing James. Lily quickly decided that this boy must be all bark and no bite when confronted with actual authority figures and not a fourth year student almost a head shorter than himself.

The boy stuttered, opening and closing his mouth as if attempting to make words while staring at Lily with his apparently default shocked expression. After Evan Rosier made a quick escape back into his compartment James made to interrupt what was quickly becoming a staring contest between the two.

With the sternness gone from his voice now that trouble had been avoided he casually asked the boy who he was. "You're wearing the Gryffindor crest but I haven't seen you round before. Are you in sixth year?" asked James curiously.

Lily herself was curious as well because she could swear that she had never seen this boy before in her life yet he wore the Gryffindor crest and was clearly at least sixteen.

The boy answered quietly, seemingly finding his voice, a soft whispery voice that somehow held an authoritive tone which ensured people listened. "That's because you haven't –seen me before that is. I'm an exchange student and am starting seventh year and I only just got sorted into Gryffindor. I don't even know anybody yet." The boy babbled defensively before getting a hold of himself and standing up straighter.

"I'm Harry King and previously I was homeschooled" the boy said wearing a now very serious expression. "My parents travel and decided that I would benefit from a more diverse education than Hogwarts offers but due to a change in circumstance I'm now attending" he said with a finality which led no room for questions. Lily thought that the boy sounded a little snobby like one of those pureblood kids who took their last names as their justification for superiority.

He shook both James' and her hands' firmly but pulled back his hand when he got to Sirius apparently not deeming him worthy of an introduction. Lily found the boys jaunty demeanor unpleasant and was quick to suggest James, the head boy, show him the ropes and made her excuses to leave the group of boys' she didn't particularly want to interact with.

"Yes, I'll show you all the ins and outs, do you have a compartment?" James asked apparently eager to play the part of mature head boy. Lily almost snorted; she doubted it would be long before James would be feeding the boy prank candy. She didn't want to stick around and supervise the situation however so she said her somewhat stilted farewells and made her way back towards Mary and Marlene.

So my first chapter of my first story… Tell me what you think. Should I keep going?


	2. Chapter 2

_Thanks to everybody who reviewed the last chapter. I really appreciate them. _

Lily felt both exhausted and invigorated after the long journey to Hogwarts. It was a unique combination of the excitement to be at Hogwarts and weariness after the long journey there. As she stepped off the train she watched as the first years shuffled towards Hagrid, huddling together like baby penguins as they prepared to cross the lake.

"Remember when that was us?" Lily whispered in Mary's ear, who was pulling her cloak tighter around herself as the wind gusted around them. Mary was a tiny girl and people always joked that a strong gust of wind would pick her up and blow her away.

"Yes, Jack Pepper fell in the lake when he saw the giant squid" Mary chuckled, thinking fondly of the meek Hufflepuff boy.

"And then the giant squid picked him up and put him back in the boat!" Lily continued, remembering her astonishment at the time.

Marlene, who had just caught up to the two girls, interrupted with a smirk "Everyone said he peed himself too"

"He did not!" exclaimed Mary, puffing her cheeks.

"Yes he did" Marlene countered, always eager for an argument. Lily often noted that Marlene could carry even the most trivial arguments and argue them till her throat was sore, even if she didn't really believe what she was saying.

Mary, who was well use to Marlene's forceful spirit argued back in Jack's defense good naturedly all the way to Hogwarts. Lily listened to them half-heartedly as the rode the carriages towards the castle.

At the feast Mary and Marlene sat on either side of Lily and pretending to be in a fight while slyly giggling at each other when they thought nobody was looking. Lily herself was focused on the sorting as she tried to remember each of the first years names, or at least the ones that got into Gryffindor. She and James would have to lead them to the tower after dinner.

She glanced around and spotted James sitting with the marauders near the end of the table. What surprised her though was that he seemed to be gently interacting with the little first years, getting them all introduced to each other as they were sorted and answering their questions. She laughed when she heard one first year girls ask where the ceiling in the great hall was and James stumbled out an answer about pixies and enchantments. He obviously hadn't read _Hogwarts A History_.

Maybe James was getting more mature though. He had told her at the end last year that he was done with 'childish acts of retaliation against Slytherin' though he wouldn't give up pranking. Lily hadn't believed him or that he was going to act more mature. She even thought he might have just been repeating one of the lines Professor McGonagall made him write in detentions. Now that she saw him actually acting like a head boy however she thought that she was perhaps too quick to judge his change of heart.

Looking past James she saw the new boy, Harry King, bunched in with the first years. He looked awkwardly overgrown sitting amongst them even though he was a bit on the small side for a seventh year boy. He didn't seem to be involved in the conversation but listened to James with the same rapt attention as the first years when he spoke. Lily supposed that it must be strange to go to school all of a sudden after being homeschooled for so many years.

Marlene saw Lily looking in the direction of the new boy. "Who's that?" she asked Lily in a whisper.

"New boy, Harry King –he just started in our year. I met him on the train, he seemed a little pretentious" Lily replied while internally re-evaluating her opinion. "Maybe more aloof than pretentious, he's probably not use to so many other people" Lily rephrased deciding she should hold out judgment on the strange new boy. He certainly didn't look pretentious as he gazed at James with reverence beating even some of the first years.

Sirius Black didn't look like he knew what to make of the new boy either. Black kept glancing at him, before turning to Remus and whispering something in his ear. Lily suspected it was not complimentary as Remus was quick to elbow Black in the ribs.

Marlene noticed this to. "They're going to prank him so bad. We should take bets as to if he survives living in the same dorm as those boys"

"They better not" Lily said with a frown, she suspected that they probably would. The conversation was interrupted however by a short speech from the headmaster and mountains of food appearing with a snap of his finger.

Lily filled up her plate with chicken breast and a healthy side of vegetables before digging in. She hadn't eaten on the train so she was starving but saved room for some dessert of treacle tart and ice cream. The rest of the hall seemed to have the same idea as the noise dulled to the clattering of cutlery and muted murmurs.

After dinner Lily made her way towards James and the first years. "Should we take them to the tower now?" Lily asked before introducing herself to the first years that were both bouncing with excitement and rubbing their eyes with tiredness. James and Lily lead the group, stopping to explain things like the portraits and the moving staircases. Lily was surprised at how cohesively she and James did this, with each taking turns talking about various aspects of the castle.

Harry King followed up behind the first years, solemnly listening as James and Lily explained the ins and outs of the castle. He seemed to be shuffling his feet on the floor as James explained that it is thought that the wood used on the staircases was made from elf timber, which was magically infused to hold enchantments for centuries.

They had just gotten to the last set of stairs before the fat lady, when the staircase decided to change direction on the group. Lily had been just about to step off when the stairs took a veering turn to the right. She held the bannister tightly musing on the stair cases strange behavior –they didn't usually move while people were on them especially not in the wrong direction. James was quick to reassure the others though, even if he too found the stair's behavior unusual, enthusiastically telling the first years that Hogwarts herself liked to lead students on adventures. He went on to describe a secret passage they were coming up to, telling them in a conspiratorial tone and letting them in on their first secret of the castle. Lily watched as the first years listened excitedly to James. She knew the passage he was talking about as it wasn't a well-kept secret among the Gryffindors and smiled as the first years looked wildly around trying to guess which painting the passage way was behind while James gave them all clues.

Eventually one of the shortest first years got it. "It's behind that Earl with the funny blue hat!" he exclaimed triumphantly while pointing towards it with determination.

"Too right, too right" enthused James "To get through you've just got to give the old guy a compliment and then he moves aside and lets you go"

There was a chorus of 'I like your hat' and 'wicked moustache' before the Earl gave a wink and moved aside to reveal a dusty passage way which winded around to come out by the fat lady. The first years dutifully followed Lily and James through the passage in single file while gazing at the grey concrete walls like they were something special.

Harry was the last to come out from the passage and looked thoughtful as he came through the hole. Lily wondered if he was thinking about hidden passages in the castle because he couldn't possibly know that the staircases didn't usually move like they just had.

As they reached the tower and showed the first years their new dormitories James let out a long sigh of relief.

"I don't think there's a pranker among them." James said, standing in the middle of the common room.

"I should hope not." Lily replied a little miffed that James apparently wanted them to be troublemakers.

"Oh come on Lily –they've got to have some fun, you know what they say about all work and no play. I think that Nathan kid might have some potential though." James replied making the conversation sound more serious than it actually was.

Lily was about to reply and let James know that he most certainly should not encourage first years to play pranks when a voice cleared from behind James and she noticed the new boy Harry awkwardly trying to get their attention.

His resolve seemed to waver a bit however when both James and Lily set their gazes on him and waited for him to speak.

"Um, I was just wondering where I should sleep?" he asked almost stuttering.

"The seventh year dorm mate" James replied as if the answer was overly obvious.

"Maybe you should show him James" Lily interrupted. James made a nod of agreement but seemed reluctant to actually leave.

"Thanks" Harry said.

Lily thought it was a little strange how Harry's manner had changed so much from on the train. He had seemed so uptight when he was telling them he was homeschooled and picking fights with Evan Rosier. Now he just seemed awkward and shy. It seemed her theory on all bark and no bite held true.

Too tired to be thinking so much Lily stretched and made her way towards her own dorm. She needed a good night's sleep as she had to get up early the next day to make sure the first years didn't get lost on their way to the great hall.


End file.
